Cider Yeast Advice Needed......Need Some Residual Sweetness

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ScrewBrew

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So I just bottled my first batch of cider and I was impressed! I fermented 3 gallons of cider with 1lb of honey which yielded a 1055 O.G. I used Cote du Blanc yeast and it finished off at 0.999. I let it ferment for about 6 weeks in the carboy.

It tasted a bit tart but nothing I don't think would mellow out as it ages in the bottles. There was no residual sweetness however...most likely due to the Cote du Blanc yeast. And although I prefer a dry cider, my wife prefers a slightly sweeter cider.

Can anyone reccomend a different yeast that wont eat every last bit of sugar? I'd prefer not to backsweeten the cider...I'm sure a less dry yeast would do the trick. Any suggestions?

Thanks! :rockin:
 
Actually, just about any yeast on the planet would take cider with an SG of 1.055 down to dry no problem. You could try cold crashing/repeated rackings to stop it early, or you could sorbate/sulfate it then backsweeten. Cider is 100% fermentable, so unless you add some type of unfermentable sugars, or use the methods I've mentioned, it will always go dry.

That's one of the reasons why graff is so attractive if you like some residual sweetness. Because of the malt added, there are some unfermentables in there.
 
Oooooo....just read up on Graff, I didn't know it existed! Sounds like what I'm after! I'll be trying this in the future.
 
If you want residual sweetness, don't use honey. Honey almost always will ferment to below 0.99.

Look to using a beer yeast that has a moderate attenuation. Safale US-04 or Windsor yeasts are English ale strains that work well with Graff.

I recently made an all grain version for two gallons of the base and apple juice for three. OG was 1.050. Finish was 1.008. This was with Windsor.
 
Yup, graff is good - you can even just replace any sugar with LME or DME and leave out the hops, wheat etc if you want.

I added 500g burnt honey to a 1 gallon batch, OG 1060 and FG 1010 because burning creates some unfermentables. Different flavor to standard cider though.

Your easiest solutions imo are to make a substantial amount (3 gallons plus) and stabilize, keg + force carb, or to simply bottle and carbonate dry, then just add some apple juice in when you drink it - this'll mean you don't have to bother with any risk of bottle bombs or a fridge needed for your entire batch, or a painfully long pasteurization process. That way you can have it dry or sweet too!

Unless you use something which is definitely unfermentable, it will come out dry, and it's up to you whether you are interested in learning about cold crashing or pasteurizing.

Don't bother with sweetener, xylitol, lactose etc, they're pretty rubbish and will turn a good cider into a cheap tasting one!
 
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